Can't Prosecute Yogi Adityanath For Gorakhpur Riots: UP Govt to Court

The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday told the Allahabad high court that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath could not be tried for the 2007 Gorakhpur riots.

The decision for this was taken by the chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar on May 3 on the grounds that the audio clips that were sent for forensic investigation earlier were doctored.

The high court has expressed its displeasure over the government’s move and has given the petitioner 10 days to file an application of amendment so that the refusal for sanction of permission for prosecution could be challenged. The HC has set July 7 as the next date of hearing.

The plea said that his speech had led to the riots in Gorakhpur that year. Yogi was made an accused and was jailed. Later on, the case went to the criminal investigation department of the UP police for further probe, which asked for prosecution sanction in 2015.

However, Samajwadi Party, which was in power at that time, did not sanction prosecution against the controversial leader.